In related art arc welding systems such as gas-shielded tungsten arc welding (GTAW), gas-shielded metal arc welding (GMAW), plasma arc welding (PAW), etc., weld quality will be adversely affected if the torch head is not properly positioned with respect to the weld groove walls. For example, because ferrous materials of the weld-groove sidewalls can interfere with the arc, the arc of a torch head that is improperly positioned can shift to a sidewall rather than the bottom of the weld. Conversely, if the torch head is positioned too far away from the sidewall, the filler material will not be properly deposited against the sidewall. Further, even a torch head that has been properly positioned at the start of the welding process may need to be readjusted during the welding process. This is because the alignment of the sidewalls of the workpieces may not be straight and true and the relative position of the torch head with respect to the weld groove sidewall could change, i.e., the distance between the welding head and a groove sidewall could get smaller or larger, as the torch head travels the length of the weld groove. In addition, in some cases, the width of the weld groove could also vary along its length due to deviations in machining the weld groove. Accordingly, to account for misalignment and width variations in the weld groove, the position of the torch head and/or the width of the arc oscillation may need to be adjusted in situations where mechanical oscillation, magnetic oscillation and/or ground switching are used. Therefore, even in an “automated” welding process, an operator may need to watch the welding operation and constantly adjust the position of the torch head and/or the width of the arc oscillation.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.